History Never Repeats

[CURVE]

A well known New Zealand Poet once said “History Never Repeats”. He may be right but history is getting very close to repeating itself now, as this season has a very similar feel to 1984.
At the end of the 83 season, North Melbourne looked tired and slow and were subsequently flogged in two finals.
At the end of the 2000 season, the Kangaroos looked tired and slow and were subsequently flogged in two finals.
In 1984 North lost their first three before travelling to Geelong for their first win.
In 2001 The Kangaroos lost their first three before travelling to Geelong for their first win.
In 1984, while North still had the nucleus of their champion side (Grieg, Glendinning, Schimmelbusch & McCann) they were only a shadow of their former great selves.
In 2001, while the Kangaroos still have the nucleus of the champion side (Carey, Stevens, King & Archer) they are only a shadow of the champions they once were.
The bright spot for the 1984 side was the emergence of some youngsters such as Ian Fairley, Peter German, Matthew Larkin and Ross Smith.
But how will the young guns of 2001 stack up in the future? Personally I think the Kangaroos on-field future is looking bright.

We have lost five of the first six matches, and our percentage is below 60. It’s going to be terribly difficult to have any influence come September, Therefore I think it is time we plan for the future. The young guns that have tasted AFL football so far this season have all put in very commendable performances, so it’s time they become the clubs priority. Drew Petrie, Daniel Harris, Dylan Smith, Digby Morrell and Corey Jones must be given the confidence to play out the season and develop as top class AFL players, and Lindsay Smith, Mark Ainley, Clayton Lasscock, Daniel Pratt and Mark Hilton must also be given opportunities at some stage this season.

What about the second and third year players? This season will be make or break for some of them. Adam Lange, Brady Rawlings, Shannon Watt, Shannon Motlop and John Spaull obviously have talent, but it may be a case of using some of them as trade-bate or releasing them at the end of the year.

What about the older players? There are some older players that aren’t pulling their weight during the game. I’m sure they are giving it their all, but they just seem to have lost touch with the game. In the business world they would be sacked, and AFL is now a business. Corey McKernan, Matthew Burton, and Shannon Grant have been well below par this season. Then there are guys like David Calthorpe and Ricky Olarenshaw, who may have been great once, but now are doing nothing more than earning large bucks for doing little. We can’t afford to keep dragging stragglers along because eventually they will tie us down, and that is what’s happening now. Again these guys should become trade bate or released at the end of the season.

By the by Rooboy, I’m not being negative, I’m being truthful. The Kangaroos have some tough decision to make over the next couple of weeks, and even more at the end of the season. Our glory years may be over, but with the performances shown by the young guns so far this season, I’m confident that will return shortly.

 

[Groucho]

I tend to agree Devo. I made similar comments after the Essendon game that this year could be like 1984. Our senior champions are no longer capable of the great deeds they regularly performed in the past and our middle ranking or support players aren't quite good enough to take up the slack. We now have some good quality young players but can't expect them to dominate games for a few years. The upside is that ,with the introduction of the draft and salary cap,teams can move quickly up the ladder from year to year as Melbourne did 97 to 98 virtually on the acquisition of Jeff White and astute selection of some good midfielders. I certainly don't want to be battling to avoid the wooden spoon as we were in 1984, and personally think that we are still a chance to at least challenge for the 8, but if we do finish down then it 's certainly far from out!

 

[Shinboners]

I really enjoyed Friday night's game (apart from the last 20 minutes) with so many kids in the team. On Friday night, we had:

5 rookie players (Petrie, Smith, Harris, Jones, and Morrell)
2 2nd year senior players (Makepeace and Cochrane)
3 new players from other clubs (McLaren, Sinclair, Rocca)

It has to be the least experienced North side that we've played since the Schimmelbusch days.

The other thing about Friday night is that there seemed to be a change in the game plan. North appeared to try and make space and pass the ball rather than just bombing it down. Pagan also made some interesting moves like letting Petrie do the bulk of the ruck work, starting Colbert and Pickett up forward, and often allowing Morrell and Jones to be the forwards alongside Rocca.

Don't know about you guys, but I'd prefer to see Pagan persist with playing the kids and using this new game plan at the risk of losing matches in the short term rather than a return to the bomb it to Carey strategy just for the sake of a few wins in the short term (which will leave our skills and tactics still below the best clubs).